My Week with Marilyn

‘My Week with Marilyn’ is the new British drama from director Simon Curtis and stars the up-and-coming actor Eddie Redmayne (The Other Boleyn Girl, Glorious 39) and the American actress Michelle Williams (Brokeback Mountain) as Marilyn Monroe.

The film examines the true events surrounding a week when Monroe was escorted around England by the young Colin Clark, an assistant director on the film ‘The Princess and the Showgirl’ whilst her husband, the playwright Arthur Miller, had briefly returned to America.

‘My week with Marilyn’ has gained mostly positive reviews from critics, and is an excellent piece of cinema, mostly due to Michelle Williams’s excellent portrayal of Marilyn Monroe. Her ability to transform in an instant from the glamorous and mesmerising star of 1950s Hollywood, to the vulnerable and delicate character that Monroe could become was something to behold.

Eddie Redmayne is also excellent in his portrayal of an ambitious young man on his first job, who becomes mesmerised by Marilyn, as is Kenneth Branagh in his portrayal of the ever frustrated Laurence Olivier. Even Dougray Scott, with a very small role in the film, manages to portray Arthur Miller with extreme excellence. The film manages to be both touching and comedic, without being too cliched.

I am sure anyone who enjoys ‘My week with Marilyn’ will want to see ‘The Prince and the Showgirl’ straight after, to be able to view Marilyn Monroe in all her glory, with a new view from what we have been shown in ‘My week with Marilyn’.